🇺🇸🇮🇱 The US State Department has cleared a $320 million sale of equipment to Israel to improve precision and guidance systems for munitions, according to a letter the department sent to Congress. This follows an earlier $403 million order for similar equipment to convert unguided bombs into more accurate, GPS-guided bombs.

Israel has used the specified kits in its military operations, including recent airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. These strikes have raised concerns due to their impact on the ground, resulting in the loss of approximately 10,000 Palestinian lives, with 40% of the casualties being young children and teenagers.

While these kits are expected to reduce civilian casualties, the recent conflict has highlighted the devastating impact of such munitions, particularly in urban areas. Israel has a significant arsenal of air munitions, including 1,000- and 2,000-pound bombs, which are among the largest used by any military force.

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🇳🇱🇩🇰 The Netherlands and Denmark were the first to agree to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets.

The White House confirmed that Ukraine would receive fighter jets from third countries after the training of its pilots is completed.

Kajsa Ollongren, the Defense Minister of the Netherlands, has announced that The Hague has plans to deliver the initial batch of F-16 fighters to Kiev by 2024. Additionally, the Netherlands aims to send 12 to 18 of these fighters to a training center, which will be under Romanian management, to train Ukrainian pilots.

"Five Dutch F-16s are heading today to the Fetesti Air Base in Romania. In the near future, a training center for F-16 operations will be established there to train pilots from both NATO member states and Ukraine," Ollongren wrote on the social media platform X.

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🇷🇺 Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the establishment of a common peaceful, stable and prosperous Eurasian space is needed to develop a new and fairer world order.

Putin also said that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is an integral part of peace and stability in Eurasia.

Reiterating how Russia is set to chair the CIS starting January 1, 2024, Putin detailed that the nation's "main priorities include the deepening of economic cooperation, expansion of cultural and humanitarian ties, and contacts in the sphere of security and law enforcement, conjunction of Eurasian integration processes."

Weighing in on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Russian president noted that Russia has "great expectations" as the structure has strong political and economic capacity.

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🇺🇳 The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday will hold closed consultations regarding the explosion on the Nord Stream pipeline that occurred last year, the UNSC programme of work, distributed by the Brazilian mission to the UN, showed.

According to the programme, the meeting will be held at the request of Russia.

The consultations will take place after an open UNSC meeting in connection with Kiev's attack on Donetsk, also requested by Russia.

The meeting in connection with the shelling of Donetsk is scheduled for 11.00 p.m. Moscow time (20:00 GMT).

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🇷🇺 Russian troops have begun to use modernized Krasnopol precision-guided munitions with increased accuracy in the special operation in Ukraine, Sputnik has learned

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A giant wooden hangar used in the filming of the X-Files series, Star Trek and Pearl Harbor movie is on fire in the US. It was used to store airships during World War II.

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The Russian economy has recovered steadily after the Western governments imposed comprehensive sanctions but the medium-term prospects are less encouraging, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a report.

As a result of the positive economic developments, the IMF revised its GDP growth forecast for Russia in 2023 to 2.2% from 0.7% in April, the report said.

"The turnaround was initially achieved by improved terms of trade related to high energy prices, followed by a substantial increase in military spending later last year and earlier this year that boosted aggregate demand, supported consumption, and encouraged investment," the report said.

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🇷🇺 The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) member states need to carry out extensive preventive work to ensure security of the regional organization, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

In his address to the participants of the XI meeting of the secretaries of the security councils of the CIS countries, Putin said that the situation on the international arena remains tense, and mentioned the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“Moreover, the actions of some countries are directly aimed at undermining the legitimate power, social stability and traditional values in the CIS countries, at violating our traditional close trade, cooperation, and cultural ties,” Putin said.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed himself as utterly cynical in his claimed commitment to democracy and free and fair elections by ruling them out for the foreseeable future, former State Department official James Carden told Sputnik.

In a recorded address published on Telegram on Monday, Zelensky expressed his belief that it was not the right time for any elections in the country.

"The short answer is I suppose Zelensky is proving to be as 'serious' about democratic processes as his patrons in Washington and Brussels who show blithe unconcern for them when it suits their purposes," Carden said.

In fact, Carden added, Zelensky's move is totally consistent with the US and the EU-backed violent Maidan coup that toppled democratically-elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.

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🇵🇸🇮🇱 Latest updates on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️ Based on ISA and IDF intelligence, an IDF fighter jet killed Mohsen Abu Zina, head of Hamas' weapons and industries in its manufacturing division.

▪️CIA Director Bill Burns discussed efforts to free the hostages with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi during a visit to Israel, an IDF spokesman reported.

▪️ Israel's post-war plan is not an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

▪️ The IDF has attacked seven hospitals in the Gaza Strip in recent hours. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 13 people were killed and 140 injured.

▪️ Civilians in Gaza evacuated to the southern part of the enclave during a brief cease-fire window, some carrying white flags.

▪️ United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said 89 staff of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the start of the conflict.

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❗️ After meeting in Tokyo, G7 foreign ministers said the only way to achieve peace in the Middle East is through a two-state solution

Watch LIVE: Lavrov Holds Negotiations on Ukraine Crisis

Follow the live on Sputnik website

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❗️Key points from the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov speech:

▪️ According to the most conservative estimates, the EU has lost up to 250 billion euros due to anti-Russian sanctions.

▪️ US continues to buy uranium and other critical materials from Russia.

▪️ De-dollarization processes will keep gaining momentum.

▪️ Russia still cannot get a clear answer from the West on the Nord Stream explosion investigation, as they are covering up all the information.

▪️ Russia’s stake in grain deal “at a total zero”, UN efforts have been unfruitful.

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No way Ukraine can possibly win a war against Russia, Glenn Greenwald told Tucker Carlson in a recent interview.

He also noted that NATO's assistance to Ukraine will not only fail to help it win, but will also lead to more casualties.

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🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu met in Moscow with Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The Russian minister noted that Moscow and Beijing are not creating a military bloc and that cooperation is not directed against third countries.

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🇷🇺 Latest statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ Regarding the risks of using weapons of mass destruction: the aggressive nature of the actions of the collective West against Russia is no secret, we have a doctrine in which everything is spelled out.

▪️ Dialogue on strategic stability between Russia and the West is necessary, but not in the form of lecturing one of the parties.

▪️ The de facto suspension of the work of the United States and NATO countries on the CFE Treaty will not change the situation.

▪️ The seizure of Russia's assets abroad will entail costs, including legal ones, for those who do it, and there will be retaliatory measures, but hardly mirror ones.

▪️ Russia will be represented at the appropriate level at the APEC meeting in San Francisco.

▪️ On Wednesday, Putin will receive the deputy chairman of China's Central Military Commission, who has arrived in Moscow.

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❌ Thor Odinson, The God of Thunder
✅ Tor-M2, The God of Aerial Defense

Watch the precision work of the Russian Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile system against a Ukrainian UAV (0:50). In addition to drones, the system protects Russian forces and civilians on the ground from aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and even ballistic missiles in their terminal phase.

P.S. A bit of military humor at (0:06) - the innoscription on the Tor-M2 says #ActivelySeeking, which accurately describes the way the system works.

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🤔 An American journalist Max Blumenthal tried to clarify with a State Department representative why US authorities accuse Russia of genocide, while at the same time the Israeli army has killed more civilians in a month than those who died in Ukraine in two years. Unfortunately, the representative responded that it was inappropriate to make such a comparison.

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🇸🇰 Slovakia's new government under the leadership of Robert Fico has blocked the previous cabinet's proposal to send €40.3 million worth of military supplies to Kiev.

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